With the popularization of fast food establishments, it is important that the customer can readily handle the purchased food and beverage items in a facile, convenient and safe manner. In many such establishments where the purchased items are for carry-out, the clerk will deposit all such items in a paper bag or the like after lids or caps have been secured to the tops of the beverage containers and the food items have been wrapped in suitable sheets of wrapping paper or foil. Notwithstanding the care exercised by the clerk in placing the items in the bag, the beverage containers will oftentimes accidently tip over in the bag causing leakage of the beverage within the bag and deleteriously affecting the palatability of the bagged food items. Leakage becomes a prevalent problem, particularly where the lid or cap is provided with slits to enable the end of a straw to be readily inserted therethrough while the lid or cap remains in place or where the lid or cap is not properly assembled on the container.
Where disposable trays are utilized in lieu of bags for handling such food and beverage items, such trays are frequently awkward to handle, require some setting up by the clerk before use, are inherently weak and susceptible to tearing and bending, are expensive and cannot be readily stacked for storage in a compact bundle, and/or are not capable of properly accommodating beverage containers which vary in size and shape over a wide range.
It has been found to be most convenient and desirable to bag the food items and to accommodate two or more beverage containers in a separate carrier. Not only are the food items (e.g., sandwiches, french fried potatoes, etc.) separated from the beverage items in such a procedure, but a plurality of beverage items can be manually carried simultaneously without difficulty.
Beverages in most fast food establishments, are normally sold in various sizes (e.g., small, medium and large or jumbo) of containers. Such containers are usually formed of treated paper stock or foam plastic material and have tapered rounded sides and flat bottoms. The open upper end of each container is normally defined by a small, outwardly projcting bead. The various size containers generally have substantially the same configuration but vary primarily in the height or width dimension.